Process of attaching extractors to corks.



No. 828,448. PATENTED JUNE 12, 1906. W. E. SMITH. PROCESS OF ATTAOHING EXTRAOTORS T0 GORKS.

APPLICATION FILED APR-23. 1906.

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WILLIAM HOWARD SMITH, OF MORTON, PENNSYLVANIA. PROCESS OF ATTACHING EXTRACTORS TO CORKS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 12, 1906.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HOWARD SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Morton, in the county of Delaware and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Attaching Extractors to Corks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved method of attaching extractors to corks; and it consists in the steps and processes herein described and claimed.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and convenient method for firmly attaching extractors to corks in such manner as to avoid all danger of weakening or tearing the cork and to prevent possibility of contact of the contents of a bottle with the extractor when the cork is in position.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, and in which similar reference-symbols indicate corresponding parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the usual dry cork of commerce. Fi 2 is a perspective view showing the cork a ter being subjected to moisture for rendering it tough and yielding. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the extractor looped about the moist cork and deeply embedded therein by reducing the loop to its final size. Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the cork and attached extractor after being baked to expel moisture from the former, the extractor being bent down on the cork in the po sition in which the articles are shipped. Fig. 5 is a plan view illustrating a preferred form of extractor employed by me and Fig. 6 is a sectional view of a bottle, showing the cork and extractor positioned therein.

In the operation of my invention the usual dry cork of commerce is subjected to moisture either with or without the application of heat. This step is conveniently and satisfactorily accomplised by placing the cork in heated water. I have discovered that by so subjecting a cork to moisture its brittleness will be removed and the cork will be rendered sufficiently tough and yielding to permit the loop of an extractor to be deeply embedded in its periphery without tearing or weakening the cork. A loop of the extractor is then placed about the toughened cork in its moist condition and deeply embedded therein by reducing the loop to itsfinal size.

In the form of extractor illustrated the ends of a double length of wire are twisted to provide a loop 1 therebetween, said loop being deeply embedded in the cork by such twisting of the end portions, and the twisted portions 2 constituting attachments provided with eyes 3 for extracting the cork. The moist cork with the embedded extractor is then baked to remove its moisture. Such baking brings the cork to a firm and hard condition suitable for satisfactorily compressing it in the usual corking-machines for insertion in a bottle and also prevents rusting or deterioration of the extractor by moisture contained in the cork.

The firm and dried corks, with the extractors looped therein, are in condition for insertion in bottles, the corks being compressed to considerably reduce their diameters in the usual manner during their insertion.

From the above description it will be seen that my improved method provides a process for embedding the extractor in the cork while the latter is in a soft, yielding, and tough condition and for then rendering the cork, with the extractor embedded therein, hard and firm to enable it to be handled and compressed by the usual corking-machines.

I have described the preferred steps of my improved method; but obviously changes could be made within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The method of attaching extractors to corks, which consists in subjectin the cork to moisture, embedding a loop of t e extractor deeply in the moist cork, and drying the cork for hardening it with the extractor embedded therein, substantially as described.

2. The method of attaching extractors to corks, which consists in subjecting the cork to hot moisture, embedding a loop of the extractor deeply in the moist cork, and drying the cork for hardening it with the extractor embedded therein, substantially as described.

In testimonywhereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

Witnesses J. F. BEATTY,

J. FRANK BEATTY, Jr. 

